Olympian glad to take part in hometown race despite 'frustrating' result

The 31-year-old Camperdown export, who won Commonwealth Games gold in the 2022 time trial, finished 16^th on Sunday, three minutes and 33 seconds behind winner Lucie Stewart (ARA Skip Capital).

Riding as an individual made things tough for Brown.

With 110-kilometres to go a four-rider breakaway began that stayed together until the final stages of the race.

None of the quartet - Stewart, Butterfields Racing's Josie Pepper, Team BridgeLane's Amanda Poulsen and Cycling Development Foundation's Sophia Sammons - were reined in, with Brown stuck in the peloton.

"It's a pretty solid day out," Brown told The Standard.

"Bit frustrating though, two bigger teams in the peloton and they had two riders in the break and none of the other teams really wanted to do anything to bring that back.

"I think Bridgelane realised a bit too late they weren't in a very strong position and couldn't really make a difference to close the race down in the end. It was a bit of a weird race and quite tricky out there on my own.

"It was a good solid ride for me, obviously no result to write home about but it was just nice to be involved."

Brown, who rides for Union Cycliste Internationale Women's WorldTour team FDJ-Suez, relished all the support she received in her hometown race.

"I had quite a few people out on the road cheering, that was really special getting that local support out on the road was cool," she said.

The Olympian commended the running of the women's classic and one day hopes to ride the full 267-km distance that the men's race extends.

"I'm keen to try the full distance," she said.

"I think it's quite iconic that race all the way from Avalon.

"It was a good edition (the women's classic), I think it can continue to build, room for improvement but the race organisers did a super job. It was a really well done event."